The Southern Ocean is the physique of water that surrounds the continent of Antarctica. The Southern Ocean covers about eight.5 million sq. miles (22 million sq. kilometers). It’s the world’s fourth largest ocean, rating behind the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans.

Some scientists say that these waters don’t make up an ocean. They are saying these waters are a part of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. Some individuals name these waters the Antarctic <<ant AHRK tihk>> Ocean.

The floor of the Southern Ocean close to Antarctica freezes in winter. The ocean’s temperature is nearly all the time very chilly, under freezing. The sheets of ice break up into chunks, referred to as pack ice, in summer time. Flat-topped icebergs, from 500 to 1,000 ft (one hundred fifty to 300 meters) thick, drift north of the pack ice.